What is Raw Food?

If you’re new to raw food and haven’t the first clue where to start, or you’ve been dabbling for a while and can’t seem to make it work for you, this page is for you.

Whether you want to dabble just-a-teeny-tiny-bit or dive right in with both feet, it really doesn’t matter. What matters is that you enjoy every aspect of your flirt with fresh raw and living foods and come to see it and experience it as an exciting adventure into a whole new world – which is what it really is!

“Raw food”, “the raw food diet”, “going raw” – perhaps you’ve heard these terms already or maybe you’ve only just come across them, but what exactly do they mean?

Welcome! My name is Karen Knowler, also known as “The Raw Food Coach” and it is my honour and pleasure to be your guide on your journey to going raw or introducing more raw foods into your daily diet.

If you’ve been confused as to what it’s all about or even if this is the first time you’ve heard about it, don’t worry, you’re certainly not alone. Like most topics there’s a whole world of information out there about raw food and “the raw food diet” but it’s knowing which bits are useful to you and which bits you can trust that’s important. I’m here to give you all of that, quickly, easily and in a way that makes total sense so you can see if eating more raw food is for you.

So What is Raw Food and “The Raw Food Diet?”

Raw food is, technically speaking, food that has not been heated above 48 degrees centigrade (117 degrees Fahrenheit). This usually means uncooked foods, or more specifically, foods in their natural state – nothing more, nothing less.

By default this will mean foods that are safe to eat raw, which are the obvious foods like fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds – but there are a whole array of raw foods both within these particular food groups and also many more outside of them that could very well be new to you. You can read more about this in “The Raw Food Groups” page.

“Raw food” literally means “uncooked”. You may also have heard the term “living” or “live” food. This is often used interchangeably with “raw” in conversation or in writing, usually because it sounds much more appealing (and gives a better idea as to the feeling of eating this way) but technically the term should really only be applied to those foods that are still alive and growing, like sprouted beans and seeds, and the foods which are commonly referred to as “indoor greens” such as wheatgrass, sunflower greens (pictured) and pea greens.

Raw food is special specifically because it is raw. By the very fact that it hasn’t been heat-treated, it is replete with everything that enabled it to sprout and grow in the first place – life force, enzymes, water, oxygen, hormones, vitamins and minerals and so much more besides. Untouched, untainted, raw food is quite literally honest food – what you see is what you get. No hidden ingredients, nothing messed around with, just pure delicious fresh live food that we are designed to eat – living food for living bodies. And the good news for you is this: when you start dabbling with more raw food, you don’t just understand this conceptually, you actually start to “get it” experientially as your whole body cheers, shifts up a gear and starts to look and feel literally more alive. It’s at this point, when we actually have a first-hand personal experience of eating raw and living foods that the concept of what real food and nutrition is really all about starts to take on a whole new meaning.

There’s one more final myth to bust while we’re on the subject: the idea of there being such a thing as “the raw food diet” is actually a huge misnomer – that is unless you think the term “the cooked food diet” is useful or descriptive, because there really are infinite ways to eat raw just as there are infinite ways to eat cooked. Everybody’s diet will be different for different reasons and that fine! It’s really important to know that. Many people go looking for “the raw food diet” like a Holy Grail that’s waiting to be discovered but they never find it – this is why! Your diet, just like mine, is whatever you choose to make it – cooked or raw, or a mixture of the two. Your perfect way will reveal itself, it’s just a case of knowing more about the raw part…

Choosing to eat a predominantly raw food diet is one of the best things I’ve ever done for my health, energy and life overall. I’m happier, healthier and I look and feel younger than I have done for over a decade! If someone had told me raw food would affect me in so many different ways I would have laughed at them, but the proof of the pudding really is in the eating – and that’s another thing I love about raw food – I even get to eat cakes and cookies and chocolate! Who knew?!